“Moscow, The Russian Federation – Falling at one stage by a whopping 20 percent to historic lows, the Russian ruble faced intense selling pressure Tuesday. The fall occurred despite a massive pre-dawn interest rate hike from the country’s central bank.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a Moscow event in early October, sounded cocky about the sanctions imposed on his country by Washington and its European allies.
“The penalties were “utter silliness that would only hurt Western businesses”, Putin stated.
“But now with oil prices plunging and the ruble collapsing, Russia’s economy is rapidly imploding and Putting seems to be the one feeling the pain.
“London-based Standard Bank’s Timothy Ash described the ruble’s fall as “the most incredible currency collapse I think I have ever seen in the 17 years in the market, and 26 years covering Russia.”
“Obama officials are stating that they’re “seeing a toxic cocktail for Putin and Putinism”. A senior administration official said: “the sanctions highlight the economic and geopolitical cost of the foreign policy choices that Putin has made. It has made clear that he is an unpredictable actor on the international stage, and markets react to that as much as governments do.”
“The President himself, on the other hand, remains cautious in his approach to the Russian leader; it can even be said that he feels sorry for him.
“Although the sanctions have finally brought forth the result they were supposed to, I fear that this might be a hollow victory. While I might not approve of Putin’s actions on the international scene, I certainly mean no harm to the innocent Russian people. That’s why the thought of lifting the sanctions against Russia has been sneaking up on me lately”, the President said exclusively to Newslo.
He added: “the fact to the matter is that we’ve never been on friendly terms with Russia; not in the past, certainly not now, and probably not in the future. But, America has also never been the bad guy, and I don’t plan on making her into one while she’s under my watch.”
